Peevski has taken over the judicial system, the prosecutor's office, the services, the only institution that is currently hindering him is the presidency, says former MP from the MRF Guner Tahir in an interview with DV.
A conference was also organized by the Grand Mufti's Office on the same topic, and neither of the two was attended by a single MP from the two factions of the Movement for Rights and Freedoms, who are busy arguing about the three letters in the abbreviation.
DV: It turns out that the past is not important to them. Only the MRF brand is important. Is the battle symbolic?
G. Tahir: If we leave the symbols and transfer the topic to an economic plane, the conclusion is that this is a company. This is a battle for the documents that they will present in the Sofia City Court. One faction stated back in August that it had excluded Peevski and six other people. If this case is given a go, things could be resolved very quickly. But this is unlikely to happen, because the decisions of the Bulgarian court have become unpredictable - they are not subject to legal logic. They are political, not legal. And the saga with the two factions of the MRF will continue for at least another half a year.
DV: Are people interested in these legal battles? What is happening locally?
G. Tahir: This is of interest only to those who are directly connected to politics and find a place in municipal administrations. On December 22, a national conference of the MRF - New Beginning will be held, although there is no such party in the legal world. Their local municipal and regional conferences are currently underway, at which leadership and delegates are elected. And as in communist times, everywhere they are appointing only one person as chairman - Delyan Peevski.
After that, there will be a date for holding a conference of the other faction. We have known this paradox since the time when there were two muftis, two blue coalitions, two BSPs.
DV: Is there a transfer of people from one faction to the other?
G. Tahir: There is a visible outflow from Dogan's people. The younger ones do not know the history of the party, they do not know what to do, they are inadequate and cannot plan the future of the party. That is why they have been pulled out from under their feet. Peevski's people are more active. There are more "living cells" there.
Mayors are "bought" with state funds
DV: What are the reasons for this outflow?
G. Tahir: They are different. Some who have always been against Dogan's policies probably see in Peevski the person who will finally get this job done. Without even thinking about where it is leading them. This surprises me when I observe it among people with experience and memory of the past, such as the former leadership of the DOST party, as well as among representatives of the leadership of some emigrant organizations. The others are those who are openly seeking positions, funds and financial gain.
A significant part of those who voted for the New Beginning chose Peevski not because he has a program or a clear policy. The mayors are pursuing their goals. They are at the beginning of their mandate, they have promised something in the respective municipalities and they believe that Peevski could help them realize it.
DV: How?
G. Tahir: With state funds. Those two decrees by Glavchev, with which specific municipalities were financed with a total of 85 and a half million, were not accidental. It was the municipalities that supported the New Beginning, and 2-3 GERB seats were added for the parliament. The government does what Peevski tells it. I do not remember a more inadequate prime minister in Bulgaria.
In the legal world of the country, there is only one party, the MRF, there is no New Beginning, there is no old end - there is the MRF. This party has had a headquarters at 45-a Stamboliyski Blvd. for 30 years or more. On what grounds did Glavchev give a new headquarters?
When I was a coalition partner of Ivan Kostov, i.e. I was in the parliamentary group of the UDF, it took me 11 months to get a headquarters for the party that was represented in parliament. 11 months! There is no such decision from today to tomorrow. All these explanations are for people who have no idea about the existing procedure.
Along with money, compromising evidence also plays a role
DV: Obviously these methods give results…
G. Tahir: I watched the election reports - to the question "Who will you vote for?", people answered "Well, who the mayor votes for. Wherever the mayor is, that's where I am too". It doesn't matter whether the mayor is right or wrong.
DV: Why does this dependence continue, in your opinion?
G. Tahir: Dogan made it so that these people became serfs of one party. I will give a typical example - in the municipality of Hitrino, Shumen region, there is a mayor, Nuridin Ismail, who is in his sixth term. At first, he supported GERB, then he switched to DB, his current term is from PP-DB. In the presidential elections, he supported Radev. No other municipality from the mixed regions invited Radev during his election campaign, but Nuridin Ismail invited him and Radev went.
DV: Give a definition of a local feudal lord?
G. Tahir: The local feudal lords have oppressed the people both administratively and economically. Let's continue. Nuridin Ismail has been mayor since 1990. He has over 20,000 acres of land. He acquired it somehow. He has a dairy, a cow farm with about 2,500 heads of cattle, a sausage factory, and 30-40 stores throughout the country, including in Sofia. All the people there are either his employees or work in his companies. They are dependent. What is interesting is to see in each successive election how these people vote - when the mayor is from GERB, the votes go to GERB, when he is from PP - they go to PP.
DV: Why don't those who today want a cordon sanitaire against Peevski, who want his figure to disappear from the political horizon, follow the traces of the dependencies? What does Peevski hold them with?
G. Tahir: In my opinion, he holds them with two things: one is the money, he has scattered money everywhere, he bought it. The other thing is that somewhere besides money, compromising evidence is also at play, as Jeyhan Ibryamov's wife said in an interview.
I would address all of them with the words: If you want this person to be fully exposed, speak as you know! Things are not from yesterday. When Lyutvi Mestan said publicly that he had been asked to resign, without daring to mention a name, we all understood that he was talking about Peevski. That it was not Dogan, but Peevski who had set him the condition that he immediately submit his resignation. And when he did not submit it immediately, that evening they removed his security from the NSO. This is 2017. Back then, Peevski ordered and removed the NSO security. What are we talking about? What state are we talking about? Peevski has long been a state within a state.
Today in the National Assembly, he, along with Boyko Borisov, can do whatever he wants, even when he does not vote. He has taken over the judiciary, the prosecutor's office, the services, the only institution that is currently hindering him is the presidency.
The possibility of negotiations is undermined
DV: Will he succeed in his attacks on Radev?
G. Tahir: He will not succeed. For me, he is not a politician - he is a completely different type of person. He thinks that in this brazen way, spitting on state institutions and specific people, he can move forward. That is not how it works.
DV: What is Ankara's position regarding the split in the MRF?
G. Tahir: Ankara maintains absolute neutrality. They have even told the big Turkish businessmen not to take sides. They have not been able to deal with Dogan for years and are perhaps waiting for him to be cleared from the field.
Turkey is a country with self-confidence and an imperial past. They consider us, the foreign Turks, to be part of their nation. They believe that they should be able to influence Turkish minorities wherever they are, through their parties, associations, organizations. And Turkey has such influence in all other countries except Bulgaria. Turkey wants to have a stronger influence here, but it could not achieve it either in the person of Dogan or in my person. That is why they tried through Lutvi Mestan, through Kasim Dal - these were parties created directly by Ankara.
DV: Do the negotiations for a cabinet have a chance, in your opinion?
G. Tahir: I am not optimistic. It does not matter whether only Peevski or Boyko Borisov and Peevski together have activated the Prosecutor General to request Kiril Petkov's immunity - what does that say? Is now the time? Almost three years have passed. Why now, when a cabinet needs to be formed, when the parliament has just started working? This undermines the possibilities for negotiations in general.
DV: Are you surprised by what is happening in parliament today?
G. Tahir: For me, the fact that Peevski's people voted for Kiselova is a big question mark. Although I had predicted that they would wait and give this support. There are no coincidences.
Over the past year, Kiselova was promoted as an expert. And in the public's mind, she stands as a neutral person. What did we observe? She unexpectedly appeared on the BSP lists. They included her. Then everyone withdrew their candidacies for the post of parliament speaker, but not the BSP. And at one point, both Boyko Borisov and Peevski recognized her.
Kiselova turned to the New Beginning to say "Thank you, but I don't want your votes" only after the votes of the PP-DB and the ASP were attracted. Only then. Why didn't you do it last time?
Perhaps certain circles around the president believe that Kiselova is their person, that they can influence her and, if necessary, have an acting prime minister, promote her. But I am not sure that she will be pro-presidential or pro-PP. Then I will ask my colleagues from the APA why they supported her.